


smiling while you run

by Anna_banana



Series: F1 Athletics [8]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Athletes, Can be read alone, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gaming, M/M, athletics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23278438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anna_banana/pseuds/Anna_banana
Summary: At first glance he was too busy looking at Alex to notice how he looked in the photo, which says it all really. This time however he pays more attention to himself. He’s smiling brightly and the look he’s giving Alex is frankly so soppy and affectionate it’s unbelievable. No one has ever called him subtle but even for him, this is ridiculous and honestly, he has absolutely no clue how Alex hasn’t noticed it yet.
Relationships: Alexander Albon/George Russell, Carlos Sainz Jr/Stoffel Vandoorne (mentioned), Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen
Series: F1 Athletics [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1072689
Comments: 5
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Will be posted in two parts seeing as today is Alex's birthday and I wanted to post!  
> You don't need to read the other parts to read this but obviously I would recommend it :)

George and Alex have trained together since they were young teenagers first bursting onto the European and then global athletics scene. While not one of the more famous athletes George is reasonably well known for fans of British athletics as their most successful steeplechase runner. Alex perhaps, is even more infamous as the “British” athlete who competes instead for Thailand for his mother, despite the strains it puts on his funding comparatively, even as a more successful 1500m runner. The pair have always been close, always at similar training camps in the U.K. and then eventually training under the same coach. Now they are even closer, many athletes who once trained in Britain having moved away to the U.S.A or other countries instead for what they felt was a better quality of coaching. Maybe they are right but George knows in his heart he will probably never leave. He has tried for a few weeks at a time but never felt he was training quite as hard or as well. He tries not to think about how strongly his training performance seems by this point to correlate so strongly to Alex’s presence or lack thereof at a session. By now he knows that he isn’t able to fool anyone however. Not their training partner Jack, or their old friend Lando who doesn’t even stay in the U.K. anymore. 

That’s why George knows logically, that the hints and suggestions from friends started long before now. Even still, that doesn’t stop him from blaming this one specific photo of him and Alex for making things so much worse. It’s important for them to use their social media for promotion- even if those in athletics don’t exactly get the big followings that other sports tend to. That exact reason is why he’s not surprised when Alex takes out his phone during a session, putting them both in the frame to take a quick selfie. He grins at the camera before they carry on, not thinking anything else about it during the long run. It’s not until he gets back home and actually looks at Alex’s Instagram that he really begins to panic. Most of the comments are fairly generic- “keep up the good work boys,” or “keep running,” but there are a few mentions of how cute they look together which makes George look back to the photo once more. At first glance he was too busy looking at Alex to notice how he looked in the photo, which says it all really. This time however he pays more attention to himself. He’s smiling brightly and the look he’s giving Alex is frankly so soppy and affectionate it’s unbelievable. No one has ever called him subtle but even for him, this is ridiculous and honestly, he has absolutely no clue how Alex hasn’t noticed it yet.

It’s only a few hours later when someone calls him on Face Time. Sighing when he looks at the contact name, he tries to look as nonchalant as possible before answering. 

“Hey Lando,” he waves at the screen smiling, “what’s up?”

“I don’t know,” the smaller man says smirking, “you want to tell me?”

“Nope,” he replies, forlornly.

Lando sighs at him but this time he’s willing to let it go, instead suggesting that they play a video game to take his mind off it instead. It makes sense really, they both know how the conversation will go by now.

‘You should tell him’. ‘It would ruin things.’ ‘You can’t hide it forever.’ ‘But we train together and-’.

So yeah, it’s better for them to hang up and instead chat on headpieces while playing the F1 video game- an old time favourite and guilty pleasure for both athletes and while George may make a comment about becoming world champion one day. FaCtS. With Lando responding that George and Alex will be married one day. FaCtS. For the most part George can just do what he always tries to do and pretend that his feelings aren’t happening. 

{}

“Nobody smiles like that while running unless they are in love,” the phone call starts and Alex considers hanging up.

Alex isn’t exactly sure how he ended up being friends with a Dutch high jumper, other than that they both tend to hide in the corner during Nike sponsorship events. Unfortunately however Alex can’t talk to his other friends about these things- George for obvious reasons and Lando because he’s liable to let it slip. So instead Alex is stuck with the advice of Max and sometimes if he’s extra unlucky, background comments from Daniel instead. 

“Everyone likes to get their dicks sucked mate,” he hears faintly.

Damn, it’s one of those days then.

Fortunately however Max does grumble at his boyfriend and by the sound of things when he replies, the Dutchman appears to have moved to another room.

“I like running, I’m a distance runner,” Alex speaks, deciding just to completely ignore Daniel’s comment.

“Yeah and I like high jump,” Max responds, “doesn’t mean I smile like I won the lottery and then had sex in celebration when I’m doing it.”

Which yeah fair point, Alex has to concede. Despite the love all athletes have for their sport, it doesn’t change the fact that they generally look more agonised than euphoric while doing it. 

“Daniel does though,” Alex responds, despite knowing full well how ridiculous the comment is.

“Daniel’s resting face just looks that happy,” Max says and Alex can imagine perfectly the eye roll that comes with it. The reply might be an exaggeration but it’s certainly not much of one. 

The pair banter back and forth for a little while longer before Max says he needs to go- citing that he has a training session soon. Alex glances down at his watch confusedly as he’s pretty sure that Max doesn’t normally train at this time of day. Figuring it’s just a polite metaphor for sex or something he says his goodbyes and lets Max hang up because well, it is exercise of some sort he supposes.

{}

The thing that neither George, nor Alex have considered, is the long time friendship between Lando and Max. Most people forget after all, is that it actually makes perfect sense that these two would have known each other for ages. Despite always having competed as a British sprinter, sometimes when he was younger, Lando would take advantage of the Dutch part of his blood and participate in National competitions there as well. When Max was competing as a teenager everyone had heard of him. Those who hadn’t had certainly heard of his father Jos anyway. While it’s hard to argue with the effectiveness of his training growing up, very few could handle sessions with Max and his father, the older man’s aggressive and gruelling coaching style scaring them off pretty quickly. It was hardly surprising really when at competitions, adults and children alike would avoid Jos like the plague- and as a result of that, avoid him too. 

Lando always aimed to be an exception to every rule however and rather than hiding from the man screaming loudly in a language he could only sort of get the gist off, instead he would make fun of him in ridiculous impressions, causing laughter to shatter any language barriers around him. 

But anyway, Max hangs up the phone from Alex. He doesn’t have training to do, or any other activities to do for that matter, despite what Alex was implying as he said his farewells. Instead, he has another phone number to call. The number of Lando Norris. When he calls, the Brit picks up quickly, having seemingly been waiting. 

“Perfect timing, I just logged out of a game with George,” Lando comments as he answers.

Max grins to himself before explaining that he also just finished speaking to Alex. Immediately the two start sharing the exact details of their conversations before complaining how unsubtle and ridiculous the pair are, a well practiced routine by now. This routine however, gets interrupted by a comment from Max. 

“So I was thinking,” he begins to say and Lando begins to grow concerned.

“That’s dangerous,” Lando jokes, the nerves in his voice ruining the punchline somewhat.

“We really need to do something to get them together,” the Dutchman continues, and somehow Lando manages to become even more anxious. 

“We’ve tried to make them tell,” Lando begins before being cut off.

“Which is where you come in.”

Max sounds like he’s practically beaming through the phone and Lando wonders whether the Dutchman would be able to talk him through a mild panic attack. He has absolutely no idea how he does it, but Lando does somehow manage to remain at least kind of calm throughout the explanation. Which is impressive considering Max is telling him he should pretend to fancy George and go and ask Alex about it, forcing the Thai to finally make a move or something.

While Lando is quite sure that this is a plan that is bound to be filled with thousands of holes, as after all it is Max’s idea. There is one part of it that he finds particularly problematic.

“But what if he ends up hating me,” Lando says, even just the hypothetical making him upset. 

“Which is why it needs to be you!” Max exclaims, which, okay then.

“Why because you don’t want Alex to hate you?” Lando replies a bit sarcastically, and Max realises they aren’t exactly on the same wavelength.

Lando is once again stuck listening to some rambling logic that mostly boils down to that one time he had a crush on Carlos and the fact that Carlos and even more impressively, his boyfriend Stoffel are still good friends with him. Therefore if anyone could complete this mission and still be besties with the two targets involved, it would be him.

“You promised me you would never bring that up again,” Lando responds sulkily. 

What’s worse, is that he knows his moody responding tone is partly due to the fact that he is probably going to end up accepting this stupid plan.

They continue conversing for a while longer and as they both are expecting by this point, Lando finally, if very reluctantly agrees. 

As Max finally brings the phone call to a close, he leaves with one final piece of wisdom.

“What could possibly go wrong?” Max questions. Hanging up before he can receive an answer.

“What could possibly go right?” Lando mutters to himself, already wondering how the hell he let himself get roped into this.

Groaning out loud, Lando decides to quickly fire off a text to Alex, before he can change his mind. At this point Lando wonders whether it’s too late to quit sprinting and take up football again, after all he’s still fairly young…

Almost immediately, Alex replies, and Lando is absolutely certain by this point that he is doomed. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realised like half way through writing this that it's one of the longest fics in this series and it mentions athletics the least... it still fits in though i guess

**Hey, I have something I want to talk to you about… Could we meet up soon?**

Moments later, Alex’s reply to the text comes through.

**Of course I hope everything is okay. Does tomorrow work for you?**

Once Alex replies, Lando is quick to set up plans for them to meet at Alex’s first thing the next day. Now that he’s committed to going through with this ridiculous plan, Lando figures the best course of action is to get it over and done with as quickly as possible. 

As an afterthought, he sends a final text asking Alex not to share with anyone that they are meeting tomorrow as he doesn’t want anyone else to know what he needs to talk about. Alex sounds somewhat confused in his reply but he agrees easily enough, so all there is to do now is await tomorrow with trepidation.

{}

Lando sits on a park bench, unable to stop his leg from jiggling with nerves. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Passers by glare at him in annoyance, the sound of his foot hitting against the pavement disturbing their walk. Other than that however nobody pays him any mind, making Lando more grateful than ever for his relative anonymity. His general freaking out over this meeting made him uncharacteristically early, rather than his usual style of “unfashionably late”. Luckily however, Alexander is a polite and punctual guy so it doesn’t take very long for him to show up after him.

When Alex turns the corner in the park, headed towards the main seating area, a frown instantly settles on his face as he knows now that whatever Lando wants to talk about must be serious if he has arrived before him. Alex picks up his pace as he walks towards the younger man, concern only growing when he notices the extreme fidgeting of the athlete sat on the farthest bench. When Alex sits down next to him, Lando startles as a result, apparently not having noticed him heading towards him.

“Oh hey Alex,” he greets him warmly.

While Lando has a characteristic smile on his face, the expression completely fails to reach his eyes and Alex can only imagine what it is the Brit needs to speak to him about.

“Hi Lando, what’s up?” he asks.

Despite Alex trying his best to keep his tone neutral, it quickly becomes apparent that his expressions seem about as natural as Lando’s right now.

Panicking, Lando decides to blurt out everything he has to say as quickly as possible. Instead however, when he starts talking, it isn’t what he planned to say that comes out.

“Max wanted me to pretend to fancy George so that you would have to make a move on him but I couldn’t do it. Sorry for worrying you and wasting your time,” he explains as quickly as possible, only remembering to take a breath at the very end of the sentence. 

Upon hearing that Alex is stunned to silence, trying to wrap around everything in his head. Seeing Lando’s eyes water however snaps him back into focus.

“Are you okay?” He asks, and Lando simply gapes at him in shock.

“I’ve just told you I was planning on lying to you about liking George and you’re asking if I’m okay?” Lando questions, bemused.

Unable to help it, he actually laughs a little, after all, only Alexander would be nice enough to react in that way. 

Alex ponders it for a moment, before rationalising to Lando that it’s just Max he should be mad at. After all, it’s Max who told Lando to do this stupid idea, not to mention that he’s the one Alex trusted with his secrets. 

Lando questions out loud whether or not it’s actually a secret, after all literally everyone knows how they both feel. After speaking, Lando realises maybe it’s a little bit too early to be making jokes considering what he was going to do to Alex only minutes before. 

Alex begins to chuckle in response and Lando is relieved. Moments later however the laughter dies as Alex comes to a realisation.

“Wait, both of us?” he questions.

Once more, the younger Brit is amazed by both of his friends' abilities to ignore what is staring them right in the face.

“I know I was planning on doing something pretty horrible Alex, but I wouldn’t have agreed to it if I didn’t know literally _for a fact_ that you both like each other.”

“Oh,” is Alex’s only response, seemingly having been stunned into silence.

Lando waits for a minute, but still Alex doesn’t say anything more. He really must be shocked, if he hasn’t even made a joke about George’s favourite catchphrase “FACTS”. Just as Lando is about to think of something, anything else to say. Alex’s phone emits a loud buzzing sound, startling him back into life.

Still on for our cardio session tonight? Remember you still need to send a list or if not bring the ingredients. You promised to show me that dish your mum always makes!

Alex reads the message with a smile. Lando tries (and fails) to read it over his shoulder, before Alex simply angles the phone towards him. After reading the text, Lando starts snickering and Alex flushes with embarrassment remembering that Lando will know exactly what they’re talking about.

One time when Lando came round for a meal, he complimented the food and Alex’s mum informed him that recipes are to be shared with family only.

Almost immediately after, Lando’s own phone also starts pinging. It’s his ringtone for Max, “SuperMax,” a song created by the Dutch athletics fans especially for him. Max hates it, Lando finds it hilarious. 

Before Lando even has a chance to look, Alex simply grabs the phone off him. There’s a barrage of text messages asking for updates because of course there is. Max has always seemed to have a sixth sense for drama. 

Coming to a decision and praying with an intensity he has never felt necessary before, Alex hands the mobile back to Lando. 

“Here, just don’t give Max any updates, I’ll find a way to get my own back on him later” he says. 

Lando hears the silent and agrees easily. 

“What are you going to do?” Lando asks, after all he is really curious and plus he can feel smug about already knowing everything when Max finally finds out.  
“I’m going to get ready for my date!”

Alex replies with more confidence than he feels and runs off, sprinting as if he’s some sort of short distance runner, knowing he needs to prepare for tonight. Lando walks off in the opposite direction, also headed home, knowing he will be distracted for the remainder of the day by wondering what is happening between his two best friends.

{}

When Alex arrives home, he forgoes the training kit he had lying on his bed and instead rummages around in his cupboard until he finds a decent pair of jeans and a nice short sleeved shirt. He showers before getting changed and even puts some product in his hair. When Alex looks down at the branding on the hair gel, he realises that it’s probably one that George has forgotten to bring back to his house after staying over. He resists the urge to dump even more in his hair and the urge to bring it to George’s with him. Instead, he leaves it lying near the mirror, deciding that he can always mention it another time. 

A quick glance at his phone reminds Alex that it’s nearly time to leave, especially as he needs to go to the shops first. His eyes roam around his shoe rack, considering what to put on his feet. He glances at a pair of smart shoes for a moment, but eventually dismisses them, instead going for one of his smarter pairs of trainers, courtesy of sponsor Nike. George knows everything about who he is, how he looks and what he likes, Alex reasons. There’s no point changing his appearance entirely. 

When Alex heads downstairs, his sister instantly questions him ‘Weren’t you and George just staying in tonight?’

Alex agrees that they are and she responds with a mumble that sounds a lot like ‘finally’.

When Alex heads out the door he yells out bye to his family. As the door shuts he hears the faint noise of other farewells, and did someone just say good luck? On that note he leaves the house and heads to the shops. Conscious of the amount of time he has Alex quickly grabs all of the ingredients he needs. After a moment's hesitation he also buys some low alcohol beers and a bouquet of flowers. With everything he needs in hand, Alex drops the shopping into his car, before heading to George’s house. 

Standing outside George’s house, Alex stops for a moment, pauses, hesitant. He takes a deep breath, acts on resolve that he doesn’t really feel and knocks. George has always insisted that he should just walk in but Alex has always felt the need to act on a misplaced sense of politeness and even now after all these years, still isn’t willing to do it. 

After a minute or so George opens the door widely, ready to usher him in as always. When he notices what Alex is wearing however he stops on his doorstep, still holding the door ajar.  
“You’re not ready for our circuit session,” he says, eyeing Alex’s outfit from head to toe. 

“I,” Alex starts saying. He finds that nothing else will come out. He realises, a bit belatedly now, that he hadn’t planned what he was going to say for this conversation at all. 

Rather than saying anything else, George simply looks at him intently, waiting. Alex gathers himself and starts again. 

“This is a family recipe,” he says, gesturing towards the bags at his feet. “My mum didn’t even want to give this to you as we’re not in a relationship but I told her there would never be someone I would rather share this with and eventually she agreed.”

Realising he has said all of that still looking down, he forces himself to look at George.

“I can still make it for you,” he continues, “but I’d rather give you this recipe as my boyfriend or never give it to anyone at all.” 

George’s eyes water. Alex thinks he’s messed everything up horribly. He’s about to do something, anything to get George back when the other man grabs him by the shoulders and hauls him into a kiss. 

They bump together at an awkward angle, George has grabbed him just a touch too hard, there’s a loud crash as one, or perhaps both of the shopping bags fall over, Alex’s lips are a little bit too wet from licking them with nerves, George’s are slightly chapped. It’s absolutely perfect. 

After a moment they pull apart. George tugs Alex inside. Alex only pauses to grab the bags, quickly shoving a few ingredients back in, so that everything can be brought inside with him. He hands George the bouquet of flowers sheepishly, they have been damaged somewhat by a tin or something. George takes them from him, a beaming smile on his face and kisses Alex once more. This time, they move almost in sync and it really is perfect. 

When they pull apart this time, George sits the flowers down with a smile and takes Alex’s hand, it doesn’t take Alex long to realise they are headed for the bedroom.

“What about dinner?” he questions, without really objecting. 

“You can teach me the recipe later,” George says. 

They both grin stupidly at each other, knowing exactly what that means without needing to say a word. _Boyfriends._

“But first, we need to make sure and do at least some form of exercise,” he carries on with a smirk.

Alex laughs and allows his _boyfriend_ to drag him to his bedroom. After all, they’re both professional athletes, so there’s no way he can argue with that.

Recipes, revenge plans on Max (and possibly Lando), and talks about the future, those can all come later. After all, now him and George are together, Alex knows that everything will work out just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not super happy with this ending but I didn't want to leave it unfinished to apologies for the quality 
> 
> Find me on tumblr at bottasvaltteri

**Author's Note:**

> The picture this is based on proves how long this was sitting in my WIPs (oops)


End file.
